The invention relates to methods and apparatus for studying surfaces and more particularly metallic surfaces, and more especially to methods and apparatus for the selective dissolution of a particular metal in conditions in which another metal may also be present.
In one particular example to be described in more detail below, the invention is applied to the determination of the amount of coating material present and/or the porosity of the coating, on a metal surface such as a razor blade edge. However, the invention is by no means limited to such application.
Electrolytic dissolution of metals in electrolytic cells is well known. The use of such techniques, however, for quantitative testing of a metal coating, possibly on another metal, poses problems. As an example, prior techniques have not shown how it may be ensured that only one selected metal is electrolytically dissolved where others may also be present. Furthermore, prior techniques have in general involved equipment which is complex in design and/or use, rendering it unsuitable for application outside the laboratory.
It is an object of the invention to provide improved methods and apparatus for the selective dissolution of a particular metal in conditions in which another metal may also be present.
It is a further object of the invention to provide improved methods and apparatus for studying metal surfaces and which are simple in operation and use so making them available for industrial applications.